Navan Enables Switching Between Flight, Rail Options

Navan has launched a new sustainability feature enabling travelers to toggle more easily between air and rail options during a search when both are viable options, the company announced.

The new “Train v Plane” feature alerts travelers searching for flights in Navan, the recently rebranded TripActions, when trains are available for the same route and presents a button to click to show rail options. A traveler who still wishes to fly upon seeing the rail options can click another button to return to the flight options.

Navan launched a beta version of Train v Plane in September, and more than half of the beta users in the United States and Europe engaged with it, according to the company.

The feature was in part inspired by recent moves in France to ban certain short-haul domestic flight routes. Navan reports that since September 2022, domestic rail bookings within France increased 54 percent, with the largest increases on the routes affected by the ban. Bookings for rail travel originating in the EU in general have had a “steady increase,” including a 29 percent increase month over month in March, the company reported.

“As more of these short-haul flight bans are mandated across Europe, Navan remains ahead by ensuring we have the appropriate inventory, coupled with as much self-service functionality as possible for our customers,” Navan director of rail partnerships Stephanie Weaver said in a blog post.

Navan also reported that companies are seeing savings with rail bookings, with the average rail booking costing more than $100 less than a flight on the same route.